PA woman guilty of brutal NJ shore murders of father and girlfriend

A Pennsylvania woman has been convicted of the violent murders of her father and his longtime girlfriend, both shot and then stabbed dozens of times in their Long Beach Island home.

The gruesome scene shocked the community in October 2021, as the bodies of 87-year-old John Enders and 75-year-old Francoise Pitoy were found by Surf City police doing a wellness check.

On Friday, a jury in Ocean County Superior Court found 57-year-old Sherry Lee Heffernan, of Landenberg, PA, guilty of two counts of murder and four illegal weapons offenses.

Related: WOMAN SHOT, STABBED FATHER AND WOMAN TO DEATH ON LBI

Both victims shot, stabbed dozens of times

Enders had been shot in the jaw and stabbed 51 times, according to testimony at Heffernan’s nearly four-week trial, Asbury Park Press reported.

Pitoy had also been shot in the jaw at point-blank range and stabbed 39 times.

While the victims were found on Oct. 3, 2021, investigators have long said the elderly couple, who had dated for about 15 years, was actually killed several days earlier.

Surveillance cameras on the Route 72 bridge very early Sept. 29, 2021 captured footage of Heffernan driving towards LBI in her 2003 Ford Winnebago, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

Other surveillance footage and documentation also tracked her return home, the affidavit said, including Heffernan’s cell phone location.

Related: SHERRY LEE HEFFERNAN DOUBLE MURDER CASE

Ocean County Sheriff's Office detectives later found blood stains inside the RV.

Daughters cut from Enders’ will

Prosecutors told the jury the motive was Heffernan being cut from her father’s will.

At the time of the killings, the $2 million house had been listed online as a pending sale.

In an earlier affidavit, a friend of Enders told investigators that the victim had changed his will within the month before his death, cutting out both of his daughters.

The victim’s friend also said that Heffernan was upset that she had not been hired to handle the sale of the waterfront home.

After the killings, the property was taken off-market.

On Oct. 4, 2021, Heffernan was taken into custody by Pennsylvania State Police at her home.

She was sent to NJ just over two weeks later and has been in Ocean County Jail since then.

When sentenced in May, Heffernan would face 30 years to life in prison, for each murder, Asbury Park Press reported.

The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said Heffernan would face a life term.

With previous reporting by Dan Alexander